Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Mental Tantrums and Other Lovely Side Effects of Sleep Deprivation...

Ok, how many of you have seen the movie Meet the Parents? This morning, I had a Meet the Parents moment. You know the part where Greg is on the airplane and they want him to check his bag, but he doesn't want to, so he gets into an argument with the flight attendant? Well, here's the exact quote from the movie, and then I'll explain how it relates:

Greg Focker: If you would take a second...and take the little sticks out of your head and clean out your ears, maybe you would see that I'm a person who has feelings,andallI have to do is do what I wanna do! All I wanna do is hold onto my bag and not listen to you!

Hahaha...just thinking about that part of the movie makes me giggle. But, this morning, I seriously thought I was going to have a meltdown. Here's a very condensed version of the backstory:

Last night, the girls didn't go to bed until around 3:00 a.m. Then, Finau woke me up at 4:00 when he went to work and I didn't get back to sleep until around 5:00. Then, Ilaiasi had to be at the bus stop by 6:30 (I'm ashamed to admit that I slept through my alarm, and Ilaiasi had to come and wake ME up at 6:15 to tell me he was ready for school...love that kid!). And, to top it all off, Ovaka woke up at 7:00, just as I was drifting back off to sleep, and I had to get up for the day. DANG IT!!! So, needless to say, my morning has been a little rough since I'm running on almost no sleep. Anywhooo...at one point this morning, all three kids were screaming their adorable little faces off, and for just a split second, the Meet the Parents scene flashed before my eyes and I wanted to crumble up in a little ball and do my own version of Greg's airplane rant. In my mind, I screamed, "I'm a person who has feelings, and all I have to do is do what I wanna do! All I wanna do is GO TO SLEEP and not listen to you!" Hehehe...the moment has passed, so I can giggle about it now, but there was definitely a second there when I was seriously contemplating throwing my own little fit, sticking every baby in a crib, and crawling back under the covers for a little mid-morning snooze.

So, three cheers for me for NOT neglecting my sweet babies this morning! Sadly, it's come to that: me patting myself on the back for doing just slightly more than the bare minimum. Pretty much all day long, I give myself little pep talks and kuddos for things I totally took for granted once-upon-a-time-in-a-lifetime-far-far-FAR AWAY. I vaguely remember the days when I was able to clean my entire kitchen -- or, heck, my entire HOUSE if I was ambitious enough -- without interruption. Now, I feel like I deserve some grand award if I'm able to do multiple loads of dishes and/or laundry in the same day. Seriously. No, SERIOUSLY. It's either very comical or extremely depressing, depending on your viewpoint. I'm choosing to see it as funny. The smell eminating from my undone dishes...somewhat less funny. Luckily, I got one load of dishes done yesterday and another done this morning, so I only have about half a load left, and my kitchen is decidedly less smelly than it was yesterday. What's that, you say? You'd like to congratulate me on my awesome time management and parenting skills? AND you want to give me an AWARD for my efforts? Well, WOW...I don't know what to say...this is so unexpected...HAHAHAHA...yes, I am having another mental conversation with myself. I'm really hoping the continuous mental dialogue is a side effect of the sleep deprivation and not a permanent personality defect. It may also have something to do with the lack of adult interaction in my life...I'm not sure. At any rate, it's nice to blog because then at least it FEELS like I'm talking to someone besides myself...whether or not that's actually true is a bit irrelevant to me at this point.

So, to update you on my Christmas presents from Pod (if you don't know what I'm talking about, read the previous blog post), I did, in fact, get a soldering iron, a MINI blowtorch (thank goodness it's tiny...not at all what I was picturing, and much more useful than what I had envisioned as well!), some solder (I don't think it's the right kind for my jewelry, but I'm not sure yet), some flux (used with the solder to fuse pieces of metal together), and he also threw in some random junk for good measure: wood touch-up markers in varying colors, a $15 Olive Garden gift card, and I know there's something else I'm forgetting, but I can't think of what it is just now. Have I mentioned how much I love my dad's presents? I mean, come on...how many of you got an assortment of markers designed to touch up any nicks or scratches on your wood furniture from YOUR dad for Christmas? I'm betting none of you were so fortunate. I love my Pod...he's NUTS. Anyway, my stepdad Bryan came over and showed me how to use the soldering iron. Not nearly as scary as I thought it was going to be. It seems pretty straight forward...you heat up the item you want to stick something to, slather on a little bit of flux, melt the solder onto the flux whilst holding your two pieces together, and voila! your pieces are joined for good. Bryan made it look easy. I'll be honest...I'm still kinda scared. I'm going to go to the little bead and jewelry shop that I frequent and see if they can give me any tips. They have a soldering class that I want to take, but they only do it once a month, and this month I have to coach a tournament on that day, so maybe February will be my month. We'll see. Until then, do any of you have any words of wisdom or good soldering advice for me? Does anyone out there know if it's even possible to solder non-tarnish wire without ruining the color of the wire? I may have to get some new wire...I'm not sure yet. I'm very eager to learn, though, and can't wait to get started. One of these days, when my kitchen is FINALLY clean and the 3 ft. deep pile of laundry is done, I'll start making jewelry again. Don't worry...it's one of my New Year Resolutions...along with my resolution to "keep this year's resolutions." No, really...I'm going to do it this year. No, REALLY. What, are you calling me a liar? Oh, sorry...conversing with myself again. Another resolution? POSITIVE SELF TALK. But, let's save my resolutions for another post. Until then...HAPPY NEW YEAR everybody!! Have a marvelous day. Get some sleep if you're fortunate enough to have that luxury. And feel free to leave me a comment so that I know I'm not talking to myself on here, too. ;)

2 comments:

LOL LOL LOL Hahahahaha.....I just LOVE the way you write, you crack me up! Funny thing is I do the same thing! I to will admit to having private conversations with myself in my mind...patting myslef on the back for doing an amazing job, when I'm really doing nothing out of the ordinary....OMG, it MUST be the sleep deprivation! hahaha I like to think all mommies with more than one kid goes through it too....we're just able to admit it! haha Too bad you live in a different state, I'd help you with your kids so you could sleep for a few hours...and you could help me with mine! Or we could just get together and have our mental conversations with each other...that could be fun! haha Hang in there supermom! You ARE doing a great job!

Monica, YOU'RE the supermom! Whenever I start to feel weary, I remember what it was like having to go back and forth to the NICU every day, and then think about how you've been doing that for almost 4 months, and that shuts up the whiny voices in my head pretty effectively. Love you...I wish we lived closer. I have a feeling it would be a hoot watching out kids interact!

About Me

I'm a former high school history teacher/volleyball coach who thought she was taking a year off to have her second son. Boy, was I surprised when we had twin girls less than a year later and another daughter 13 months after the twins! So, since I had 4 babies at home, teaching was on hold, and I decided to put my love of crafting to good use for my growing family. Hence, the birth of my Etsy shop, The Pink Persimmon. This blog began as a supplement to my new adventure, where I documented my ups and downs, or just generally ramble, but has evolved to include other aspects of my life -- particularly the funny things my crazy kids do and say. After all, this is my blog, so I can pretty much write whatever I want. I'm the boss here. But I still hope you enjoy it! :)